This invention relates to an air conditioner method of an air conditioning method and, more particularly, to the construction of an indoor unit of an air conditioner which can suitably be used as an interior furniture and provide high level of comfortableness in the room.
Indoor units of conventional air conditioners, as described in, for example Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 152225/1981, draws air is drawn in from the front of the unit and discharge the same from the top. In other constructions currently available, the air is drawn in from the front of the unit and discharged from the top and bottom of the unit, as disclosed in for example Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 57900/1987. Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. 40274/1987, proposes an arrangement wherein the air is drawn in from the front of the unit and the air is discharged out from the top of the unit during the cooling operation and from the bottom of the unit during the heating operation. Further, as described in Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. 17289/1986, the air is taken in from the rear corners of the unit and discharged from the lower front part of the unit; or the air is taken from the upper part of the unit and discharged from the bottom of the unit.
For those constructions with the air intake ports arranged at the front of the unit, the unit image is determined by the grille at the intake ports and it is often difficult to match the design of the front of the unit with the interior of the room. This is especially true for the floor stand type air conditioners because the area on the wall occupied by the unit is large and the unit's depth is also large (200 mm or more). In other constructions in which the air intake ports are provided at the rear corners or at the top of the unit and the air exhaust ports at the bottom of the unit to make the unit more easily compatible with the interior of the room, there is a drawback that the blowing air directly strikes people in the room (especially during the heating operation), thus making them uncomfortable.
An object of this invention is to provide an air conditioner which can easily be decorated to match the interior of the room.
Another object of the invention is to provide an air conditioner and an air conditioning method which can improve the level of comfortableness in the room.
A further object of the invention is to provide an air conditioner unit in which arrangement of the air intake and air exhaust ports can be changed in accordance with the configuration of the room space and the interior layout to improve the comfortableness; which consumes less energy than do the conventional units; and which can easily be reconciled with the interior of the room.
A further object of the invention is to provide a panel whose dimensions projecting from the wall surface or from the ceiling is small thus minimizing the obstructiveness of the unit.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an air conditioner in which the mounting and decorating the decorative boards can be done at the same time that the air conditioner is installed.
To achieve the above objectives, the air conditioner of this invention comprises a heat exchanger, fans, motors to drive the fans, and air inlet ports and air outlet ports at the sides of the front panel of the unit.
Another feature of the invention is an air conditioner which comprises an indoor air conditioner unit installed along a vertical wall of the room and air intake ports and air exhaust ports provided at the lateral sides of the unit.
A further feature of the invention is an air conditioner which comprises: a vertically elongate cabinet; reversible cross-flow fans provided in the sides of the cabinet; a heat exchanger installed in the cabinet; a plurality of air intake and air exhaust ports provided at each side of the cabinet through which air is drawn in or blown out; and an air passage so arranged that the air drawn in from at least one of the ports is made to pass through the heat exchanger and blow out of the cabinet from at least one of the ports by the action of the fans.
In accordance with the method of the invention: an air conditioner is provided which has air intake and exhaust ports at the sides of the upper and lower part thereof, wherein during a cooling operation, air is drawn in from the lower ports, cooled, and discharged air from the upper ports; whereas during a heating operation, air is drawn in from the upper ports, heated, and delivered as warm air from the lower ports.
In accordance with further features of the method of the invention during the cooling operation, air is drawn into the air conditioner from the sides at the lower part, cooled, and delivered as cool air forwardly slantwise from the sides at the upper part; whereas during the heating operation, air is drawn into the air conditioner from the sides at the upper part, heated, and delivered as warm air forwardly slantwise from the sides at the lower part.
A still further feature of the invention is an air conditioner resides in the fact that an air conditioner body is embedded in a wall of the room , with frames for mounting the air conditioner on the wall, and a designer panel mounted on the front of the air conditioner body, wall decorative boards are mounted on each side of the air conditioner body in front of the frames, and air intake and air exhaust ports are formed between the wall decorative boards and the designed panel.
Other features, objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description in connection with the attached drawings.